I have been a member of the Gen 1 Tundra forum for a while now. We have my 2005 access cab Tundra and a 2 door Honda Accord. We had our first child 6 months ago and have been using the Tundra as the baby mobile. We really would like to have more kids in the near future and the suicide doors on my Tundra really are a pain for loading/unloading our son when we are in a parking lot. But, the Accord is even more kid-unfriendly.

So, my first thought is to sell the Accord and get a Highlander. I originally planned on replacing our Accord coupe with a sedan like a Camry or Accord, but the wife thinks that if we plan on having 2 kids, the extra space of the Highlander would be helpful. Also, with the 3rd row, there is the possibility of carrying 2 additional adults. And that would come in handy if family members wanted to ride with us.

Here is my dilemma that I am hoping the Highlander forum can help me with… If we go with this plan, I will be commuting to work in my truck (50 miles round trip) and I really don't want to have 2 gas guzzling vehicles.

Is the 4cyl enough power? I plan on test driving some Highlanders this upcoming weekend. We live in Florida, so we don't need 4wd and I don't feel a need to race around town. But, I am wondering if the 4 cyl will provide enough power if the Highlander is loaded with us, 2 kids and possibly 2 adults. Although, most of the time it will just be the wife and the kids.

Also, it would be appreciated if you could share your Highlander likes/dislikes. Thanks in advance.

Anyone?

I bought a 2011 back in November because we had a 3rd kid on the way. Upgraded from an 05 Outback. We purchased the V6 limited and absolutely love it. We had the 2.5i 4cyl in the Outback and the Highlander and the Outback get pretty close with regards to mpg. The 2011+ highlanders have split third row which is a necessity for us. I dont see how a 2wd 4cyl would not be enough to get you by. We absolutely love ours and it gets used very frequently. During the winter it was a full time ski vehicle. I felt better in it with 4wd than my 4wd 08 Tundra.

Dunno how if it applies to your purchase, but we have an 01 4-cyl (previous bodystyle) It's done fine by us. Even used it to tow our small camper halfway across the country. It gets decent mileage, ~24-25mpg. According to my friends (we don't have kids), the sliding doors on a minivan are much better because you have full access to the back even when parked between cars.

In FL you won't have to worry abut hills, the biggest one you'd have to climb would be the Skyway bridge ;-)

Very helpful, thanks guys.

Funny about the Skyway...though usually I am fishing under it, not driving over it.

Just an idea, but whenever I bought the smaller engine on any vehicle, I always wished I had gotten the larger one. Sure the gas mileage is a few mpg off but the 270hp of the highlander is nice when you need it. It moves pretty well for how large it is with the V-6.

My wife has the 2010 4-cyl Highlander, and the new transmission makes the 4-cyl not bad at all. She had a 4-cyl RAV4 before that and I couldn't stand driving it because it was a 4-speed and it bogged down then took off. The new 6-speed transmission is a great fit for the 4-cyl. She gets probabaly between 23 and 25 mpg both highway and around town.

If she isn't driving much, or if you can handle the 15mpg the Sequoia is the way to go. It is amazing how much more room there is. Easily double with the 3rd row out.